and also

The pupa is black with flanges each side of the abdomen, and has a length of about 1.3 cms. It may be found in the debris at the foot of the foodplant.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Blackheath, New South Wales)

The female adults are dark brown on top, with a large blue patch near the centre of each forewing. The males are more uniformly purple over both fore and hind wings, with a dark trident mark near the centre of each forewing. Underneath, they both are a pale fawn colour with arcs of brown carets and dots under both fore and hind wings. The butterflies have a wing span of about 3 cms.

male
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney)

The eggs are green, dome-shaped, and covered with a microscopic white polygonal net. Their diameter is about 0.7 mm. They are laid singly on the buds or stalk of a foodplant.

egg, magnified
(Photo: courtesy of Ken Walker, Blue Sydney, New South Wales)

Males are known to 'hilltop', whereas females are more secretive in their habits. Populations are isolated, though common where they occur. The species has been found in Australia as the subspecies :

This species is anomalous, and has been placed in its own genus Cyprotides by some taxonomists.

male, underside
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney)

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 762-763.

Arthur Sidney Olliff,
A new butterfly of the family Lycenidae from the Blue Mountains,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 10, Part 4 (1886), pp. 716-717.

Gerald Edward Tite,
A revision of the genus Candalides and allied genera (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae),
Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology,
Volume 14, Part 5 (1963), p. 215., No. ii.

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(updated 30 July 2009, 11 September 2025)